More than 1.5 Million College Students and 210 Universities Now Partner with Higher One to Make Life More Convenient for Students

New Haven, CT - Higher One, today announced that 2008 was another strong year for the New Haven-based technology-driven financial services and payment company focused exclusively on higher education. This is Higher One's seventh straight year of record growth.

"Higher One has grown this year by every measure. We serve more students and universities, process more financial transactions and have expanded our workforce," said Dean Hatton, chief executive officer of Higher One. "From customer service representatives to client relationship managers, our people continue to drive Higher One's success."

2008 Results

In July of 2008, the Department of Education released new regulations pertaining to the distribution of Title IV funds. These new guidelines enable institutions of higher education to establish policies requiring students to receive refunds electronically; making companies like Higher One an even more attractive partner to colleges and universities around the country.

Over the course of 2008, Higher One added 51 colleges and universities to its client list, including Antelope Valley College, Central Piedmont Community College, University of Southern Mississippi, and Texas Tech University. The company has maintained a 100% client retention rate and now partners with more than 210 campuses.

Currently more than 8.5% of all college and university students in the United States have access to Higher One's services through their school. Over the course of the year alone, Higher One managed university disbursements totaling $2.33 Billion- a 64%increase from 2007.

Improvements and Enhancements

In 2008, Higher One expanded its payment service to allow universities to collect tuition and fees electronically. Through OnePay, individuals can choose one of three ways to pay for university parking passes, tuition, activity fees and expenses: credit card, e-check/ACH from any bank account or a transfer from a Higher One OneAccount.

Higher One increased its services for students as well, offering new tools to help students learn solid money management skills. Students can receive mobile banking alerts with updates regarding their refund status or account balance via text message. Higher One unveiled Money 101, a monthly financial literacy newsletter with tips and insights about budgeting. Working together with Intuit, Higher One has enabled students to gain access to free personal finance software.

The Market Opportunity

Higher One's business growth in 2008 led to two significant business milestones. In June, Higher One announced that it had acquired the assets of EduCard, LLC, an affiliate of software developer Evisions. As part of the agreement, Higher One established a partnership with Evisions that allows Higher One to integrate its refund management and card services with Evisions' Intellecheck software.

In August, Higher One announced that Lightyear Capital, a private equity firm that focuses on financial services, had invested in the company to become the largest shareholder with a significant minority stake.

"Our services are in increasing demand from universities that want to offer exceptional student service at a lower cost," Hatton said. "This is evident by that fact we have already added more than 100,000 students on 46 campuses in the first month of 2009. This unprecedented start will help fuel Higher One's continued growth in the coming year."


About Higher One:

Founded in 2000, Higher One provides higher education institutions and their students with efficient, convenient and easy-to-use solutions to handle financial disbursements. These include: student refunds, on-campus and community purchases, payroll and employee expenses, as well as the collection of payments from students, parents, and sponsors.

Higher One offers a suite of online banking services including the OneAccount, an FDIC-Insured checking account, and OneCard, a Debit MasterCard(R). To date, Higher One has disbursed over $7 billion dollars in refunds for its clients to more than 1.5 Million students, faculty, and staff at over 260 distinguished public and private higher education institutions throughout the country. Higher One recently ranked #79 on the 2009 Fast 500 list of the 500 Fastest Growing Technology Companies in the United States. Higher One is based in New Haven, CT.